


Time Is Moving Slowly in This Moonlight

by nctinee



Series: Erlebnisse [9]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: 95 liner centric because I love their friendship, Doyoung is done with everyone's bullshit, Kun and Doyoung get bullied by the youngins, Late Night Conversations, M/M, NCT just being children, Spring Break Trip, They're at the beach again because I love BeachCT, Water Fight!!!!, XiaoHen is the ONLY ship I'm confident in give em some love, Yuta and Taeyong bestie agenda, mayhaps i pushed my reluctance to go to college onto Yuta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-29
Updated: 2019-11-29
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:40:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21557155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nctinee/pseuds/nctinee
Summary: Taeyong's in a funk, and Johnny and Yuta always know how to cheer him up.Ft. 11 of their dumbass friends that can't sit still and mind their own business for 5 minutes.
Relationships: just a smidge of Wong Kun Hang | Hendery/Xiao De Jun | Xiao Jun
Series: Erlebnisse [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1418836
Comments: 4
Kudos: 31





	Time Is Moving Slowly in This Moonlight

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Hope you eats lots of good food! If you don't celebrate it, then idk what to tell you.
> 
> Uhhh this is shit and I hate it but whatever. The summary makes NO sense and I jump around a lot but we all have our weak points ig. I'll probably rewrite and reupload it to fix up the weak spots.

One of Taeyong's favorite sounds in the whole world is the waves crashing on the shore of a beach. There's something about it that rocks him to his core, the slow build of the wave into the crash of the water hitting sand throws his mind in a blender and jumbles up his thoughts until he can't think one coherent thing. It's soothing to him, in a way he'd never be able to put into words.

But in this moment that feeling increases tenfold, wave after wave crashing into his mind and pushing and pulling him in and out of the water so fast that he can't get a grip. He doesn't know why he feels like this, he only knows that he woke up that morning feeling off for some reason, and that standing here watching the sun set over the horizon definitely isn't helping him.

There's nobody at the beach at this time because of how late and ridiculously cold it's getting, except for Taeyong and his two stupid friends.

He says stupid, but he means that in the most affectionate way possible. Ever since Taeyong met him, Johnny always had some sort of sixth sense to how he was feeling, and Yuta always had an open heart for those he cared about, no matter how many walls he put up; they have been there for Taeyong since they were pre-teens, and vice versa. 

Today, both of his friends could sense his off mood ever since he stepped out of his room at the beach house, and how they knew Taeyong had no idea, but he was grateful nonetheless. His friends really are good people, even if the constant worrying gets kind of annoying.

And just as he's about to step out of the beach house after dinner, he hears two sets of footsteps behind him, no doubt intending on keeping him company despite his unsaid protests. So he just looks back at the two and half smiles, opening the door and leading the way to the beach.

No one spoke while they were walking toward the calm shore, and no one spoke now as they were spread out along the dark stretch of beach, mulling over their own thoughts. Johnny is a few paces behind Taeyong, taking some pictures with his beloved camera while Yuta is standing in the water with his pant legs rolled up to his knees, hands in his pockets.

Friendship is weird, he thinks, as he shuffles his feet in the sand. You get to know certain people until you're comfortable enough around each other to just stay silent and enjoy each other's company. It's like you work backwards, but not really.

His train of thought is interrupted by Yuta, surprisingly, who is still looking out at the ocean.

“I don’t think I’m going to go to college yet,” Yuta states, his voice flat.

Which, doesn't really surprise Taeyong. He figured if any one of his friends was to postpone college, it would be Yuta. Not that that's bad, of course, school isn't for everyone. Especially in this day and age.

“Nobody said you had to Yuta,” Johnny answers, walking over to stand next to Taeyong. Johnny sends him a half smile and returns to looking at Yuta, camera hung around his neck.

“No I-I know that it’s just-” Yuta sighs-”I just feel like I have to, y’know? It's what mom would've wanted and Jaemin needs someone as a good role model and I want to be there for him but…” he trails off, but Taeyong doesn’t need him to finish his sentence.

Doing what others want gets in the way of doing what you want and what makes you happy. Taeyong gets that. He struggles with it too. He was never good at being his own person, and Yuta feels like he doesn't know who he is, so what _does_ he want? It's a question you can't answer until you're old and gray, and even then, it's hard to know.

"Yu, you need to do what makes _you_ happy. I can guarantee Jaemin doesn't care what you do, he'll love you all the same. And with your mom? She said she wanted you to live your life for yourself, not for her," Taeyong finishes, walking next to Yuta and putting a hand on his shoulder.

The other exhales and lets out a strained chuckle, looking down at his feet.

"It seems like I'm always being coddled by somebody here. God, I'm such a baby sometimes,"

"Hey, it's okay. At least you're talking to us about it," Johnny jokes, coming up on Yuta's other side, putting his arm around his neck.

"Oh _please_ don't mention my horrible communication skills. I feel bad about keeping things from you guys, you know that. It's just hard for me to open up about stuff,"

"We know, you don't have to explain yourself to us. It's okay, and you're getting better. It's just who you are," Taeyong replies, smiling at the other.

Yuta just smiles and whispers a thanks to the other two, shoving his hands back in his pockets.

The three stand there for a while, exchanging jokes and quiet conversations while the moon and stars shine bright above them. The night has always been more beautiful than the day, in Taeyong's opinion. It's dark and empty, but he finds comfort in it.

What seems like hours later, Johnny's story about his photography trip is interrupted by a loud screech of laughter from behind them, accompanied by many pairs of footsteps.

Taeyong knows immediately that the laughter is coming from Ten, joined in by Yukhei. They're laughing like the world can't hear them, drowning out whatever complaints Doyoung keeps throwing them. 

Taeil and Kun are walking side by side, looking very sleepy but talking animatedly about something Taeyong can't hear from where he's standing. It's probably about college applications, since Taeil's about to graduate and juniors have to start looking for colleges now.

Jungwoo and Mark are giggling about something while Sicheng walks between them looking slightly uncomfortable but happy overall. Jaehyun is on his phone, texting, the light from the screen illuminating the area and all of their friends.

Guanheng and Dejun are talking quietly to each other, fingers interlaced and swinging between them. Guanheng is whispering in Dejun's ear, the latter smiling at what he's saying.

Johnny leaves Yuta's other side and runs over to where Ten and Yukhei are laughing, joining in on the joke. Mark and Jungwoo take Johnny's place, Mark resting his head on Yuta's shoulder. Taeil walks up next to Taeyong and pats his shoulder, looking out at the horizon. The five of them stand there, breathing together as they take in the all familiar sight before them.

Taeil inevitably complains about standing too long and sits down, legs stretched out in front of him. Taeyong and Yuta follow, Mark and Jungwoo after them, and eventually everyone else joins in the makeshift circle they've formed on the shore. 

Mark starts pushing sand on Yuta's hand, burying it like a young kid would. Yukhei joins in and starts burying Yuta's foot, and soon the three of them are giggling while no one pays them any attention besides Johnny who snaps a few pictures of their shenanigans.

Ten gets up and goes down the shore a bit, going over to a straight of small rocks and pebbles. It's not light enough to see the rocks skip, but Ten does it anyway, determining the amount of skips by the sound they make on the water. Guanheng stands and asks Ten to teach him, Sicheng following in curiosity. 

Taeyong turns and looks out to the dark ocean, stars winking and reflecting in the black water. His friends laughing and giggling and talking is good background music for Taeyong's thinking. For some reason, he always comes to this moment in their annual Spring Break trip, Johnny and Yuta worming their way into his head at some point.

And while he's thinking about his friends and the ocean, he feels cold water rush down his head, into his shirt and waistband of his shorts. The water drips into his eyes and down his neck, soaking the front of his shirt.

Ten is _dead meat._

Taeyong shoots up turns around, grabbing Ten by his biceps and shoving him down into the water. Ten shrieks as he's pushed down, and in his fright, grabs on to Taeyong's arm and pulls him down with him. They fall and laugh and start splashing each other, the others staring at them in exasperation.

Wordlessly, Johnny picks Mark up by his armpits and carries them both into the water, Mark yelling and telling Johnny to put him down. As you can imagine, all hell breaks loose.

Sicheng, Guanheng, and Dejun team up and drag Kun into the water while Jaehyun and Yuta go for Doyoung, and Yukhei picks up Taeil like a rag doll and tosses him into the water. Jungwoo just stands there and laughs, enjoying the show of all the other guys tossing and splashing in the sea. Eventually Johnny gets out and drags Jungwoo in too, the latter accepting his fate and letting Johnny drag him in with the rest of the boys. 

Taeyong guarantees that if there were people at the beach and it was daylight, they would most likely get yelled at. Johnny and Taeil are chicken fighting with Yukhei and Mark, and everyone else is either trying to dunk Kun or Doyoung, while Taeyong and Yuta watch with fond exasperation.

"Just stay here awhile. Taeil's graduating, Jaemin and his friends are going to start highschool next year, your dad and stepmom both said they're thinking about getting that house right? You've got stuff here Yu, just wait and see. An opportunity will come to you, and when you think you're ready, you can take that next step. We'll support you no matter what you do," Taeyong says, glancing over at his best friend. His expression is hard to make out since it's so dark, but Taeyong figures he's smiling. 

"Yeah, I'm gonna stick around for a while. Maybe go to college, maybe not. Stay until Jaem gets settled in, then go on my next adventure," Yuta replies, turning around to took out at the horizon.

Taeyong moves over and wraps a hand around his waist, resting his head and his shoulder. "Your mom would be proud of you,"

Yuta sighs and copies Taeyong's movements. "Yeah. Yeah, I think so too,"

The stars shine a little brighter, as if giving a confirmation to the two wondering boys, laughter and love echoing behind them.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy late birthday to Woozi, Chenle, and Woosu, love you babies!!
> 
> Comment what you thought about this one, it's been in my drafts for a whiiiiiile.
> 
> I also have many non-related Erlebnisse things in the works, so get ready for those if you want ^-^
> 
> HOPE Y'ALL ENJOYED STAY HAPPY AND SMILE HAVE SOME KISSES MWAH MWAH


End file.
